REPORT 


Senate  Committee  on  Education 


UNIVERSITY 


REPORT. 


SENATE  CHAMBER,  > 

SACRAMENTO,  February  1,  1887.  f 

MR.  PRESIDENT  :  Your  Committee  on  Education,  to  whom  leave  was 
granted  to  visit  the  State  University,  and  the  State  Normal  School  at  San 
Jose,  submit  the  following  : 

Your  committee  visited  the  University  at  Berkeley,  and  met  a  cordial 
reception  from  President  Holden  and  the  heads  of  the  several  depart- 
ments. In  the  short  time  allotted  to  our  examination,  we  visited  the 
Departments  of  Agriculture,  Mechanics,  Mining,  Civil  Engineering,  Chem- 
istry, and  the  College  of  Letters.  As  a  whole  we  are  able  to  commend 
the  general  management  of  this  State  institution,  and  believe  the  various 
departments  to  be  in  charge  of  able  and  experienced  professors.  The 
University  is  still  in  its  infancy,  and  the  great  purposes  of  its  organization 
are  scarcely  felt,  yet  it  is  preparing  young  men  and  young  women  in  that 
technical  and  advanced  education  which  will  enable  them  to  become 
leaders  in  the  economic  development  of  the  great  resources  of  the  State. 

We  can  especially  commend  the  Agricultural  and  Viticultural  Depart- 
ments as  of  unusual  merit,  and  which  are  destined  .to  reach  with  their 
results  into  every  part  of  the  country.  The  experimental  tests  made,  and 
the  information  disseminated  by  means  of  bulletins,  compensate  many 
fold  for  the  endowment  which  this  department  receives. 

We  find  many  departments  only  partially  equipped  with  apparatus, 
but  the  Regents  have  gone  as  far  as  the  appropriations  would  permit. 

The  Museum  and  Chemical  Laboratory  are  both  crowded  for  room. 
The  Botanical  Garden  is  an  important  feature  and  might  profitably  be 
greatly  extended.  And  the  same  might  be  said  of  the  Observatory  and 
Meteorological  Department.  The  prominence  of  this  State  institution, 
and  the  plan  upon  which  it  has  been  organized,  and  the  results  to  be 
expected  therefrom,  suggest  -that,  financially,  the  University  should  be 
liberally  endowed  with  a  permanent  annual  income,  and  not  rely  solely 
upon  the  pleasure  of  State  Legislatures  in  making  appropriations. 

STATE    NORMAL    SCHOOL. 

Your  committee  visited  the  Normal  School  at  San  Jose.  We  found 
President  Allen  and  a  full  corps  of  instructors  busy  training  teachers  for 
school-room  work.  Permission  was  given  the  committee  to  examine  the 
school-room  works  ;  also,  the  magnificent  Normal  School  building,  and 
the  financial  account  for  the  past  two  years.  We  find  this  institution  well 
managed,  and  heard  no  cause  of  complaint. 

Herewith  we  append  a  short  outline  of  Prof.  Allen's  report  to  your  com- 
mittee :  "The  total  number  of  pupils  in  attendance  is  seven  hundred  and 
one.  Of  these,  five  hundred  and  forty-two  are  students  of  the  Normal 
School  proper ;  forty-five  are  in  the  Preparatory  Department,  and  one 


hundred  and  fifteen  are  in  the  Training  Department.  All  students  apply- 
ing for  permission  to  attend  the  Normal  are  requested  to  sign  a  statement 
that  they  desire  to  fit  themselves  for  teaching,  and  also  bind  themselves 
to  teach  school  after  leaving  the  institution.  The  Preparatory  Department 
is  of  a  more  recent  creation.  There  were  many  students,  we  found,  who 
would  come  from  a  long  distance,  and  when  examined  for  admission 
would  fail  in  one  or  perhaps  two  branches,  or,  it  might  be,  would  not  be 
quite  sixteen  years  of  age.  These  are  now  received  in  the  Preparatory 
Department,  and,  as  the  law  directs,  are  charged  a  tuition  fee  of  $30 
a  year  until  they  are  admitted  regularly  into  the  Normal  proper.  The 
Training  Department,  consisting  of  three  grades,  is  where  the  students 
of  the  Senior  class  are  trained  to  teach.  Each  member  of  that  class  is 
required  to  teach  five  months  during  the  year,  and  this  is  as  much  a  part 
of  the  Normal  course  as  that  of  studying  and  reciting  lessons.  And  in 
granting  diplomas,  the  record  in  the  training  school  is  equally  as  impor- 
tant as  that  of  the  class-room.  In  many  cases  it  is  more  so ;  for  every 
year  we  are  compelled  to  deny  diplomas  to  two  or  three  members  of  the 
Senior  Class,  whose  scholastic  averages  are  excellent,  but  who  strand  in 
the  Training  School.  These  often  go  out  and  teach  one,  two,  or  three 
years,  then  return  and  satisfy  us  of  their  ability  to  properly  conduct  a 
school,  When  the  diploma  is  given.  The  five  hundred  and  forty-two  stu- 
dents are  divided  into  fifteen  classes,  the  number  of  each  class  varying 
from  thirty  to  forty-seven,  and  in  one  class  reaching  as  high  as  fifty-six. 
Once  a  week — usually  on  Saturday  afternoon — all  the  classes  are  given 
special  instructions  in  the  art  of  teaching.  Each  year  we  are  devoting 
more  and  more  attention  to  this  essential  branch  of  the  work." 
Respectfully  submitted. 

GESFORD,  Chairman. 


[Supplement  to  Assembly  Journal.} 

CALIFORNIA   LEGISLATURE-ASSEMBLY. 

TWENTY-FIFTH   SESS1 


IN  ASSEMBLY. 

ASSEMBLY  CHAMBER,  •) 

Monday,  February  19,  1883.  j 

REPORT  OF  COMMITTEE  ON  EDUCATION. 

.  ,„,      _  SACRAMENTO,  February  15,  1883. 

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UNIVERSITY. 


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